Welcome to non-tender day, everybody. Yes, today is the deadline for teams
to decide whether to tender
contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man roster.

It’s usually done
with a player between three and six years of service time coming off injury or a team simply doesn’t feel the player is worth a
new contract. However, this winter we have a number of teams (I’m looking at you, Padres and Reds) who would
prefer not to keep a productive player because of a considerable jump in salary.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve profiled a few of the most likely non-tenders (Kelly Shoppach, Garrett Atkins, Kelly Johnson) and
even though Shoppach was recently traded to the Rays, as a result, his new teammate Dioner
Navarro is now one of the more likely names on the chopping block.

Here are some
other non-tender candidates of note, complete with ’09 stats:

Kevin Correia (Padres) – 12-11, 3.98 ERA

Jack Cust (Athletics) – .240/.356/.417 with 25 home runs and 70 RBI

Chien-Ming Wang (Yankees) – 1-6, 9.64 ERA

John Buck (Royals) – .247/.299/.484 with eight home runs and 36 RBI

Jonny Gomes (Reds) – .267/.338/.541 with 20 home runs and 51 RBI

D.J. Carrasco (White Sox) – 3.76 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 93 1/3 innings

See any good fits for your team? Keep it here throughout the day for the non-tenders as they roll in.

They were expected to activate Harper yesterday but they didn’t because Harper was suffering from an illness. He’s better today so he should be in the lineup against the Phillies.

Harper has been out since August when he slipped on a wet first base bag and was diagnosed with a bone bruise in his left knee. That interrupted an MVP-caliber season in which he was hitting .326/.419/.614 with 29 home runs, 87 RBI, and 92 runs scored in 472 plate appearances. While the postseason awards are out of his reach, the Nats will be content to get him back up to speed in time for what looks to be a first round playoff matchup against the Chicago Cubs.

Now, a little over a week before the Indians begin the defense of their American League pennant, Bauer is embroiled in further drone drama. He tweeted this afternoon that his drone “IronMan” has been stolen. He has implored the public for Iron Man’s safe return so that he need not risk his pinky finger with yet another October drone injury:

Hey. Hey Clague Park drone thief. Please return IronMan to me in a timely manner or you will force me to build a new companion!😤#SaveMyPinky